This is the Novell DeveloperNet Glossary. Use this document to define non-technical terms; for definitions of technical terms, refer to the Help:Technical Glossary.
Many glossary terms are best summarized here for context and then referred to a more authoritative source. In absense of a more authoritative source, we prefer InterWiki links to Wikipedia.
Copyleft is used to describe a key feature of certain open source software licenses. Copyleft indicates a requirement in the license that any derivative works of the licensed product be released under the terms of the same license as the original product if the derivative work is distributed. Complete Definition
A Developer Library presentation is either a set of wiki pages, rich with images and concise content, or a slide deck, usually in OpenOffice.org or PDF format, that has been created for the purpose of being presented at trade shows such as Novell's BrainShare, LinuxWorld Expo, or OsCon. When being presented by a speaker, presentations usually last about 45 to 75 minutes although some may be shorter or longer. Presentations usually take about half as long to read through individually.
Developer Library sample code is code that shows exactly how to accomplish a specific task in a specific programming language, or using a specific technology. Thus, sample code can be C code, or Python code, or a shell script, or a Makefile.
Sample code can range anywhere from a single line of code, demonstrating a function call, to thousands of lines and even multiple files of code representing a complete application.
Sample code, by definition, must be freely consumable by anyone to be used in any application whatsoever. Thus, sample code either be submitted to the Public Domain or covered under a non-copyleft open source license. Sample code that is covered by a copyleft license (like the GPL) cannot legally be used in most non-copyleft-licensed open source projects, nor can it legally be used in proprietary code.
A Developer Library tutorial is an in-depth piece of documentation for a concept or technology. Where presentations and whitepapers describe the what and why of something, a tutorial is more focused on how something is done. Tutorials can be very lengthy, ranging anywhere from a few minutes to read to several hours. Many tutorials are accompanied by sample code.
A Developer Library whitepaper is a typewritten article, usually delivered as a wiki article. Whitepapers often provide basic or introductory information about a concept or a technology. The purpose may be to introduce something, or simply to describe something that is sufficiently simple as to not warrant a more lengthy type of documentation (like a presentation). Whitepapers are also often used to compare two or more similar technologies.
A wiki is a website that allows collaborative editing by any of its users. One of key attributes of a wiki is that its content can be changed very quickly by anyone who uses it.
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